How to revise effectively

Although exams can be a cause of worry for many students, this page will give you some practical and tested ways to minimise exam stress and to maximise exam success.

Introduction

Preparing for your exams can be time-consuming and challenging. Exams will often cover material from the whole semester or year, so there is often a lot of material to work through. Our Academic Skills workshops can help you to develop your approach to exam planning, preparation and the revision process, which you can access via the following links.

The Revision Planning for Procrastinators workshop will introduce some key principles, look at how to make the most of revising across learning styles and provide opportunities to share and discuss methods and ideas for effective revision.

The Memory Techniques for Revision workshop will introduce several established techniques for memorising and remembering large volumes of information. It will provide opportunities to try out a number of strategies and to evaluate how and when they might be used as part of your approach to exam revision or preparation for academic assignments.

The Using GenAI for Revision workshop explores the opportunities and challenges of using GenAI as a study buddy for revision and to help plan and organise your revision.

Mapping your exams

Exam revision can sometimes feel like a task with no endpoint. How will you know when you have done enough? There is no easy answer to this question, but what you can do is make sure you have a plan in place and work through it systematically. That way, you will know that you have made positive progress and can go into your exams with confidence.

An important first step is to know exactly what is coming up and when. Have a go at filling in an exam mapping template to get all the basic information in place.

Once you know exactly what you are preparing for, you can begin drawing up a realistic revision timetable, working backwards from your exam dates and building in some contingency time for the unforeseen.

Don't forget to incorporate plenty of time for breaks including whole days off, so that your revision is focused and you have opportunities to reflect. It is also a good idea to think carefully about how you can reward yourself during these breaks to ensure you stay motivated.

The Get Revising provides an online revision planner that you might find useful.

Alternatively, you might prefer to create a timetable that you can print and display above your workstation. Calendarpedia provide a wide range of templates that you can select from as a starting point.

Generative AI can help you to plan a realistic and manageable revision timetable. Provide as much detail as possible in your prompt to ensure that the suggested timetable is as specific and relevant as possible to your exam programme. For example (the text in bold should be edited to suit your specific circumstances):

[PROMPT] You are a [first year undergraduate] student planning for exams. Create a revision timetable with dates and times. Start the timetable from [Monday 15th April 2024]. Exams start on [Monday 20th May] and there are exams for [Physics 101, Physics 102, Physics 103]. You have [2] hours available each weekday [avoiding 9am - 5pm] and [4] hours available for each day of the weekend. [Do not schedule any revision between 10am and 4pm on a Saturday due to work commitments]. Focus more time on [Physics 101 as this is a challenging topic worth 50% of marks for the year]. Plan the schedule to include a maximum of [30] minutes of working followed by a [10] minute breaks. Present the results in a table format for each week.

Visit How to use Generative AI for revision for further information.

Ways of learning

A good starting point when planning your revision is to consider how you learn and develop varied and appropriate revision strategies.

VARK is a model for thinking about how you learn based around four 'styles' of learning, visual, auditory (listening), read/write and kinaesthetic (practical or hands-on). Take the VARK questionnaire to help evaluate which learning styles appeal and may work best for you.

An awareness of your preferred ways of learning can you to identify relevant revision techniques and try out new ways of revising, for example:

Visual: Try mind mapping, colour coding, using diagrams, creating flow charts and time lines.
Auditory: Try reading notes aloud, recording key information and listening back, working with others to explain topics to one another.
Read/write: Try rewriting notes, condensing notes onto flash cards, writing sample answers.
Kinaesthetic: Try using card sorts, watching videos (visit for some ideas), practising and applying techniques.

But don't forget: variety is the spice of life! There is more than one way to revise well. Try out different things to see what works for you and try to avoid getting stuck in a rut in your revision.

By mixing it up, using a variety of techniques, and drawing on different methods and approaches to learning, you will help to keep it interesting and sustain your motivation through to the exam date.

This short video provides some ideas on how to make the most of your revision time:

Revision strategies

Alongside careful planning, the use of appropriate revision strategies can help you to make the most of the time available, giving you the opportunity to prepare thoroughly and get the most out of yourself on the day.

The following suggestions should help you to make the most of your revision time.

Be selective

You may not have time to revise everything on a module in great depth, so be selective about what you study; revise the things that are most important and that you have least knowledge of.
Try to distil your notes to flash cards, sets of keywords, phrases or terms and consider which topics apply to more than one module.

Revise with others

Explaining and discussing subject content with your course mates can help to reinforce your own learning.
Try preparing quizzes for one another, take it in turns to summarise key areas, or simply arrange a time to study with others (whether physically or online) to provide extra motivation.

Use past papers

Past papers are a useful study resource that you should be able to access on Blackboard.
Try to brainstorm answers or make outline plans for as many questions as possible – even time yourself writing some of these answers.
This can be particularly useful in helping you to think critically about the information you are learning and how you might present it in a clear way under exam conditions.
Self-mark your own work and see if you can identify all of the marks that are allocated for each answer in your work.

Spaced repetition

Looking over materials more than once will help to make sure that you retain the information you have learned.
Condense your notes as much as possible and then return to them at intervals throughout the revision period.
Try to increase the interval and test yourself before checking in to see if you have remembered the material correctly.

Practise handwriting

In preparing for an exam, don't forget that your paper will be handwritten, so practise this skill and make sure that your writing is legible. Examiners will not award marks if they cannot read your work.

The Pomodoro Technique is a time-management strategy that uses a short interval timer to encourage focused bursts of concentration on a task, broken up by regular short breaks.

The original technique worked on a basis of 25 minutes on, five minutes off, with a longer break every 3–4 cycles.

Try using this technique with an to make sure you aren't distracted by your smartphone or emails during your focused activity. Reward yourself with a short break on a regular basis.

This process of effort and respite will allow you to make the most of your ability to concentrate and allow time for your revision to sink in during the breaks.

Using Generative AI (Gen AI) for Revision

Generative AI (Gen AI) can complement existing approaches to revision and exam preparation. However, GenAI tools cannot completely replace more traditional approaches, nor can they do the work for you. It is therefore important to consider how such tools can enhance your individual approach to revision and make the time you have available as effective as possible.

Using GenAI for quizzes / assessment practice

Do you already use practice questions and tests when you prepare for exams? You can use GenAI tools to help quickly generate quizzes to support your revision. You can use your own notes to help generate these questions or ask the GenAI tools to generate questions for you on a particular topic related to your course.

[PROMPT] You are an academic tutor on a year [x] University [subject] course. Provide a series of short answer exam questions to test my knowledge of [topic]. Provide one question at a time, wait for my answer, provide feedback, then move onto the next question.

Using GenAI tools to create flashcards and revision aids

GenAI can help you to generate flash cards to test your knowledge of a topic, or a mindmap to help you to identify connections between related areas.

[PROMPT] Create a series of flashcards to test my knowledge of [topic].

Creating mnemonics, songs, rhymes and stories

GenAI can help you by generating memorable or unusual ways to memorise and recall information. This can be particularly helpful when you are learning a complex process or set of steps.

[PROMPT] Generate a [mnemonic/rhyme/song lyrics/story] to help me to remember [topic].

Dialogic prompting and revision

You can engage GenAI tools in a ‘conversation’ by using a series of prompts followed by outputs. This could be particularly useful in certain disciplines. For example, language students could use it to practise foreign language conversations. You can use your initial prompts to set the parameters for this, helping ensure it is relevant to what you need to practice/revise.

PROMPT: You are a native Spanish speaker providing me with language tuition. Ask me questions about [topic] in Spanish, provide feedback on my response, then move onto a further question.

Using NotebookLM

NotebookLM is a tool that allows you to create a custom dataset by uploading a set of notes or other materials and exploring the content in a range of formats including slides, reports, flashcards, quizzes, mind maps or infographics. Used well, NotebookLM can be a powerful tool to support your revision for exams.
You could use NotebookLM to support your revision in the following ways:

Converting your notes into other formats that are easier to review. For example, revision flashcards, bullet points, timelines, mind maps, word clouds, and tables.
Creating memorable revision aids, for example, mnemonics, songs, or rhymes.
Breaking down and/or simplify challenging topics to help with both understanding and remembering information and concepts.
Identifying connections between ideas or concepts within your notes.

For information on how to access and use NotebookLM, you can access the IT Services page here:

Remember: although GenAI can be a powerful revision aid, it cannot replace the gains that you will make by putting in time and effort to your revision. In many cases, manually creating your own notes and revision aids is a valuable part of the revision process itself.

Revising for Resits

While having to take resit exams can be frustrating and disappointing, it’s important that you stay calm and take some time to prepare yourself as best you can. You now know what to expect from the exam process and there are several steps that you can take to secure your success the second time around!

In addition to working through the steps outlined above, it’s a good idea to build, or maintain, healthy habits that will help you to succeed. This includes eating a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, ensuring that you have a quiet place to work, and building in time to relax. If you are tired, stressed out and overwhelmed, you won’t be able to retain the information that you need to pass your exams.

SSID can offer advice on the practicalities of retaking an exam or repeating an assessment.

Top tips and resources

Think positively and avoid the company of those with a negative outlook. You probably know more than you think you do!
Take care of your body and don't forget to build in plenty of time for breaks and relaxation.
Make selective use of technology including GenAI, but don’t rely on it to do the work for you.
Don't try to cram at the last minute - a good night's sleep will be far more helpful!
Visit SSiD's for any timetabling questions or concerns
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If you are feeling anxious in the run-up to your exams, don't forget that there is support available. Visit SSiD's for more information.

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StudySkills@Sheffield

StudySkills@Sheffield